Australia has come of age. We have apparently hit a population of 21 million today!

Ya………..hoo (;>/

So we have matured! No more physical growth for us. Now it is time to consolidate all the stuff we have learnt throughout the life of the nation, and to develop strategies to make sure we enjoy a healthy future.

Ecological constraints on population growth have become glaringly obvious. Rapid population growth so obviously works diametrically against efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, to name just two.

One of the main strategies has surely got to be the elimination of the absurd promotion of continuous high population growth, by way of eliminating Howard and Costello at the next election…. and then hoping that Rudd will see the sense in considerably lowering immigration and terminating the outrageous baby bonus.

ludwig, instead of (plan a)hoping a practicing catholic might reduce population, let's (plan b)introduce a citizen initiated referendum to reduce population.

plan b has little hope- it might not get majority support,and worse yet, australia is at a primitive level of political evolution. they not only don't have cir, they don't want it. hard to believe, innit?

plan a is worse. not only is rudd a practicing catholic, he's also a practicing politician. he will bite off his tongue before announcing to capital that it should go elsewhere, as australia is down-sizing.

in short, hoping for constructive policy making under the current political system is as constructive as basing your super fund on the visits of the tooth fairy.

can you think of a plan c?

Ludwig and Demos,
Agree with both. What a stupid idea the baby bonus is. There is enough people in the world.

Maybe plan c is the tooth fairy as she does appear rarely.

I once spent years and countless hours arguing against probate and death duties and made no headway. It just could not be done because of impact on government income. Suddenly, out of the blue, just prior to an election, came the news of no more death duties.

Now, after 35 years of debating against multiculturalism, again with no headway, both major parties are going to dump it, in favour of integration. Absolutely incredable.

So the tooth fairy does come sometimes, but only in an election year.

Not very reliable I know but it would be good to get CIR. One can dream.

I agree. The stupidity comes in 3.
1. The baby bonus. Waste of money and we don't need a booming population.

2. High immigration. Where is the water coming from for all the thirsty new people?

3. The third is not a popular topic with the ageing population. It involves the rights to Euthanasia.

The domographic bulge. Baby boomers could be a burden on the younger population as the average age of the population gets higher. Nature usually in balances a demographic bulge by death. Science stopped much of this. The working age is going higher. But in terms of quality of life and those suffering chronic illness. There will be more cancer, more obesity, more health problems.

They can only stay alive with a will to live. That has to be their first option which everyone should encourage.

If, however, they are in so much pain, depression, and in helpless desperation to just want to let go, you have to give them the right to choose.

Not by cruelty, conspiracy or any nasty agenda, but by allowing nature do its course with science to cheat pain. This issue will not go away, it will grow as a glaring factor putting pressure on various issues.

Of course there would have to be ethical checks and balances for this to be ethical and moral. No one should be encouraged to make this desision.

Is this less moral than allowing illness and pain bring down the sustainability of our population: against their wishes?

Is it moral holding a whole population hostage in pain, without dignity, in misery, depression, debt, and low self esteem as their own children hound them on "the costs of keeping them alive"?

Is it moral to just truck in immigrants and more babies to care for an older, dying population?

Are we selfish in hanging on by psychological blackmail?

The answers are not that simple.